Wawrinka and Raonic Advance to Third Round in Paris

October 29, 2014 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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Stan Wawrinka moved into the third-round of the BNP Paribas Masters on Wednesday, rolling past Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-4, 7-6(6) in his first match this week in Paris. The third-seeded Switzerland native avenged a defeat he suffered at the hands of Thiem at the Mutua Madrid Open earlier this year, and was looking to snap a three-match losing streak overall.

“I started this tournament off pretty well, which I usually don’t do because usually I need time to adapt,” said Wawrinka. “But today I played well from the start.”

Wawrinka came out firing in the opening set, using excellent defense to gain a break advantage early on. He managed to get four break point opportunities, of which he converted two, to seize control of the match with a 6-4 first set win. The second frame was a tight battle with each player exchanging backhand winners as the set would head into a tie-break.

Wawrinka jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in the tiebreak before Thiem tightened things up. The Austrian rattled off four of the next five games and was serving for the set up 6-5. He failed to capitalize on the set point opportunity, however, and allowed Wawrinka to win three straight points to wrap the match up in one hour and 36 minutes.

Having already qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Wawrinka is looking to gain momentum this week in Paris before heading to the year-end championships. The Swiss hit 25 winners, only two of which were aces, on his way to the straight set victory.

“I know I have a good level of my game. I know things can change quickly,” said Wawrinka, who will take on 14th-seeded South African Kevin Anderson in the next round. “I can lose first round, and I can also go very far in a tournament. So the important thing is really to concentrate on improving my level.”

While Wawrinka has already qualified for London, Canadian Milos Raonic is still on the outside looking in. He needs to win the title in Paris this week to guarantee himself a spot in London, and furthered his chances of that with a win over American Jack Sock on Wednesday.

The big-serving Canadian knocked off Sock 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4) in a tight-three set battle. Both players entered the match looking to feature their respective powerful serves, and each delivered, as Raonic ripped 19 aces and Sock hit 17.

The match would head to a tiebreaker in the final frame and Raonic quickly took momentum back with a break point to go up 2-1. He then would serve the match out to close out Sock in a little more than two hours.

The victory bumps him up to ninth in the Race to London standings, slightly ahead of Spaniard David Ferrer.

“I know what I need to do, but it’s too dependent on other guys, so I’m just very much focused on myself,” said Raonic when asked about his London chances. “It’s not like if I do well I have a safe spot.”

Raonic will look to continue his climb up the standings when he takes on 11th seeded Spaniard Roberto Bautista-Agut in the third-round.

The rest of Wednesday’s action from Paris features a number of marquee players. Roger Federer will begin his tournament with a second-round bout against Jeremy Chardy, while David Ferrer, Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori all also seek spots in the third-round. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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